1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a hand held sander, specifically one having a means to independently support the tool on a surface other than the surface of the work piece being sanded in order to control the tool's angle and depth of cut and one which has a means to limit or stop the cut of said work piece when a predetermined depth and angle of cut is obtained.
2. Description Of Prior Art
Woodworkers frequently sand or plane a piece of wood, a board, a piece of particle board, plywood, veneer or other fibrous material (sometimes hereinafter referred to simply as "board") in order to obtain a smooth surface on the work piece, change its shape or reduce its dimension.
Heretofore, the artisan, to accomplish this purpose, sometimes, sanded the work piece by hand or used a sanding block, a hand held orbital or continuous belt sanding machine.
None of the above described sanding or planing methods or tools now available:
1. have means to limit or stop the depth of cut of the work piece; PA0 2. provide mechanical means to assure that the work piece will be sanded or planed uniformly and be of consistent thickness throughout its length; PA0 3. have adequate means to prevent "valleys" in the surface of the work piece; PA0 4. have mechanical means to assure that the hose of the sander is flat on the work piece to prevent the work piece being "rounded"; PA0 5. have means to gauge or measure the extent the sander will be allowed to cut the work piece to obtain a work piece of predetermined accurate measured dimension; and PA0 6. have means to mechanically control the angle the tool will cut the work piece.
Some woodworkers, to smooth the surface or to lightly dimension the "board" use a stationary drum sander, feeding the work piece under a revolving drum, which is surrounded by sandpaper or other abrasive substances, to reduce the work piece in thickness to the distance between the bottom of the drum and the top surface of the supporting table upon which the work piece rests.
Some woodworkers for the same purpose use a stationary planer, a machine with revolving blades being held above a work piece being fed through it to reduce the work piece in thickness to the distance between the bottom of the blades and the top surface of the supporting table upon which the work piece rests.
These sanding and planing procedures can have satisfactory results if the work piece is not bowed, cupped, crooked, thin or short in length and if the work piece has one surface which is flat.
If the work piece is cupped (i.e., curved on the width dimension) a hold down device on the drum sander or planer will push the work piece down flat on the supporting surface in the process of holding it firm before it is passed through the sander or planer and when the work piece exits the machine, and downward pressure is released, the work piece may return to its cupped shape.
To prevent this, the woodworker has to machine one side of the work piece flat for it to rest squarely on the supporting surface of the machine while the top surface is being sanded or planed. Most woodworkers accomplish this by passing the work piece repeatedly over a jointer, sand or plane the work piece.
Short work pieces should not be passed over jointer blades, through a drum sander or through a planer for such procedure is unsafe. Consequently, to reduce the thickness of a short work piece, and particularly one which is cupped, the woodworker must plane (either manually or with a hand held power planer) and/or sand both surfaces of the work piece It is difficult, by using these methods, to obtain a work piece accurately dimensioned because of the lack of means to control flatness of cut and limit or stop the depth of cut.
A stationary drum sander or planer cannot remove the bow or crook of a work piece; a plane, sander or jointer do not have mechanical means to accurately dimension it and, therefore, to straighten it, the artisan generally must use a saw.
A jointer cannot easily straighten a work piece that is crooked or bowed and may not be able to remove the cup of a work piece if it is thin enough to be flattened when pressure, which is necessary to pass it over the jointer blades, is exerted upon the work piece. A jointer does not have means to control the thickness dimension of the work piece. Furthermore, passing thin stock over jointer blades is considered unsafe by most skilled woodworkers.
It is difficult for a woodworker, without specialized equipment, to obtain a work piece in which the plane of the top surface is not parallel to the plane of the bottom surface. Since drum sanders and planers reduce and dimension the work piece in parallel planes and since it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain this result by using a jointer he/she must resort to hand tools. These tools do not, however, provide a controlled means to accomplish this result.
Furthermore, drum sanders, planers and jointers are not easily portable and, being expensive, are not affordable by many woodworkers.
Most woodworkers, therefore, would find it desirable to have a hand held , easily portable, inexpensive sander, mechanically controlled, that could sand the surface of a work piece and to dimension it on any desired plane, straight, consistent and to a depth certain and predetermined.